Author Archives: Paul Sloane

Disrupt your own business before someone else does. Offering second hand books at low margin threatened Amazon’s higher value new book sales but this did not bother Bezos. He wanted to own that segment of the market too and to prevent a competitor from seizing it.

When something unexpected happens don't get annoyed, get curious. Find out why. The customer with a weird complaint or a weird use for your product is one hundred times more interesting than the customer who is happy using your product in a conventional way. Welcome the surprising.

Which are the most innovative companies in the world? There is no way of absolutely measuring levels of innovation but three eminent groups compile different lists using different methods and of course they get different results.

Companies will need to think innovatively about customer needs. CEOs must ask ‘In the IOT what is our new value proposition?’ Firms will have to hire software engineers to design and deliver service solutions based on usage data. They will need data analysts to review all the data they gather from their devices. In other words every company will have to become a service provider and a software company – or perish.

We live in a society where people are quick to take offense so we are encouraged to be polite and correct. But sometimes the best way to gain attention for your creative idea is to be outrageously provocative.

Ismail defines an Iridium Moment as using linear tools and trends of the past to wrongly predict an accelerating future. Every company has to make important strategic decisions. We can see with hindsight that some decisions which looked smart at the time turned out to be dumb. Often it was because the wrong assumptions were made.

The innovation center needs the full support of the corporate leadership team. The report concludes that large corporations can tap into thriving technology hubs and innovation ecosystems. By empowering their innovation centers they can re-energize their innovation capability.